


all you want is honey (you can’t take the sting)

by chahakyn



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, No Incest, Relationship Study, Sibling Bonding, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chahakyn/pseuds/chahakyn
Summary: Allison laughs, warm and familiar, tossing her hair away from her face.“Yeah, but it’s special. It’s not Griddy’s, it’sfancy.”Vanya shrugs, licking her fingers.-Allison and Vanya have their girl's nights out. But what starts as a way to bring them together ends up tearing them apart.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 12
Kudos: 45





	all you want is honey (you can’t take the sting)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [apocofive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocofive/gifts).



> meredith and i end up talking about baked goods a lot for some reason, but it always turns out with good results ♡
> 
> fic title from [ Milk & Honey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upO_lTAFiAo) by Billie Marten

Griddy’s is a Hargreeves’ thing.

It’s sickly-sweet doughnuts stacked high in a box, chocolate frosting smeared on Klaus’s cheek, a cup of scalding hot coffee wrapped in Five’s hands despite it being 2AM. It’s Diego brandishing a butter knife at Luther except more playful than anything they do at home, Ben encouraging whatever Klaus’s shenanigans happen to be with a gleam in his eye, Allison’s hands folded neatly on the laminate as she rolls her eyes with a laugh, almost too regal for such a run-down joint.

Vanya loves it all. She loves it enough that when Griddy’s stops being what brings the Hargreeves together, she still sees it in her dreams. Feels the sticky pleather beneath her, smells that special late-night smell mixed with fresh-baked goods, hears the laughs of her siblings, carefree in a way that haven’t been in years.

\---

And then it changes. Griddy’s outings suddenly become an Allison-and-Vanya thing. Except it’s no longer Griddy’s they go to.

“What _is_ this?” Vanya says, eyes wide as she regards the pastry in front of her, covered in powdered sugar and sitting neatly on a porcelain plate. They’re at a café, nicer than anywhere Vanya’s ever been, and she’s wary of everything.

“Try it,” Allison says with a sly smile from behind her latte. “You’ll like it.”

Vanya tries it. And she likes it, even though—

“It’s just a crème-filled doughnut,” she says around a mouthful of pastry and a smile. Allison laughs, warm and familiar, tossing her hair away from her face.

“Yeah, but it’s special. It’s not Griddy’s, it’s _fancy_.”

Vanya shrugs, licking her fingers. She still thinks Griddy’s isn’t as bad as Allison claims it is, but she’ll never say that out loud.

\---

It’s girl’s night, Allison says time and time again, sweeping Vanya away to fancy restaurants and cafes all while leaving the boys behind. Allison takes her to new places every week, hand wrapped tightly around Vanya’s as she proudly pays for their food with her acting salary.

Vanya takes it all in stride, trying new foods with a pinched expression as Allison laughs herself silly watching her do it. It warms Vanya’s heart, being special enough to make Allison laugh like she used to when they were kids.

Having a sister is really, _really_ nice.

\---

The places they go out to eat become fancier as Allison grows more and more famous. With every outing, every bite Vanya takes of raw oyster, truffle pasta, lobster bisque, chocolate souffle, she can feel the Allison she thought she knew slipping away.

\---

“Peter said that Andy wouldn’t take the job, which I totally get. Like, I love Mina to death, but she really doesn’t vibe well with the guys and everyone agrees that Andy is picky but he’s making the right choice dropping the role in favor of Curtis’s offering—"

“Wait, but why would he do that?” Vanya says, brow furrowed as she tries to piece the gossip together. She barely knows who these actors are, much less why they’d turn down a perfectly good job for what seems to be an inconsequential reason.

Allison huffs out a frustrated noise, waving her hand dismissively. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Vanya nods, chewing morosely on her baklava. Allison, seeming to sense her misstep, ducks her head to catch Vanya’s gaze.

“What about you? How’s music school?”

“It’s alright, I—” Vanya stops, tilting her head. Does Allison really want to hear about her performance project, or how she finally managed to hunt down some sheet music for a piece she’s been dying to play for years? Vanya wants so badly to tell Allison what she’s done, but it all seems so…insignificant. What are worn violin strings, late nights writing papers, and music constantly floating through her head to Allison’s glamorous co-stars, red carpet events, and designer-brand clothes?

“You wouldn’t understand,” Vanya says with a hesitant smile, parroting Allison’s words as casually as she can. Allison gives her a look before shrugging, picking at her fruit tart with an air of impatience.

\---

It takes months for Allison to call now. Vanya finds her hand gripping the landline receiver more than she’d like, fingers hovering over the buttons. She has Allison’s number memorized, it’d be so easy, just 9 clicks and the familiar, staticky ringing of the phone in her ears, and then the line would pick up—

The receiver falls back on the hook with a final click as Vanya’s hand moves away. She’s too scared. She isn’t the kind of person to reach out to people, much less to people like Allison who are beautiful and famous and busy with more important things than their quiet, obsolete sister.

Vanya shakes a pill out of the prescription bottle almost out of habit, tossing her head back as she dry swallows it.

She misses having a sister.

\---

“I was thinking about writing a book.” Vanya says carefully, the blunt end of her nails tapping repetitively against her water glass.

“Were you?” Allison doesn’t even look up, gaze glued to the screen of her phone as she types something out wickedly fast, polished nails clicking lightly against the screen.

Vanya sucks in a breath, crossing her legs beneath the table. “Yeah.”

 _Ask me what it’s about_ , Vanya thinks, her gaze nearly drilling a hole in Allison’s head with how intense it is. _Ask me what I want to write about. Look at me and tell me that writing about our family and spilling all our secrets is bad. Tell me not to do it and I won’t, I swear it._

“Allison?”

_Allison. Look at me. Please._

Allison doesn’t look up, nodding at her phone as she sends another message before frowning thoughtfully at the notification that pops up. “That’s nice. I’m sure it’ll do well.”

Vanya looks down at her empty plate, fingers curling into a fist in her lap. She wanted Allison to stop her. She wanted so bad for Allison to stop her. But she didn’t.

\---

What little contact Vanya received from her siblings stops the moment her book is published. The invitations from Allison for their girl’s nights stop coming too.

Vanya knew it would happen. But it doesn’t hurt any less.

\---

It’s awkward, _painfully_ awkward sitting together again in spite of everything that’s happened. What they’ve become

“Yay sisters,” Allison says, something hopeful in her eyes as she tilts her champagne glass in Vanya’s direction.

_Sisters? Are we really?_

Vanya manages to twice her initial grimace into something softer and kinder as she taps her glass against Allison’s. She knows Allison sees the change in her expression, knows that mending their relationship isn’t going to be anywhere near easy.

But they’re trying. It’s a start, isn’t it?

\---

Allison holds the bag out to her and Vanya freezes, the familiar smell of bombolone taking her back to early mornings where she could barely open her eyes, late-night secrets whispered behind hands and that kind of strange, ache in your stomach when you laugh so hard it hurts, but you can’t bring yourself to regret a thing.

But then she remembers how it felt to shrink back into plush booths where she didn’t belong. Trying to read menus written in languages she didn’t understand. Listening to Allison talk and glimpsing a world where she would never be welcome.

Something bitter curls deep in Vanya’s stomach and she shoots Allison a pained smile.

“Sorry. Brunch with Leonard.”

Allison’s smile falls a fraction, a chink in her seemingly impenetrable armor finally showing.

\---

It’s 1963. Vanya’s sitting with her siblings that she just met a day ago, eating tacos and listening with wide eyes as Klaus rambles on and on about how fucked up their family is and modern fashion mishaps. What a strange world she lives in.

Allison slides into the seat next to her, and Vanya turns to give her a shy grin.

“Brought you something else,” Allison says, handing her a doughnut wrapped in paper. Vanya takes a bite and sighs happily.

“Now _this_ is good,” she says through a mouthful of frosting. “Doughnuts could definitely cause the end of the world.”

Allison laughs, setting her chin in her hand as she leans forward. It sounds a bit hollow, even though Vanya can only see a familiar warmth and fondness in Allison’s smile.

“I had a feeling you’d like it.”

Vanya feels her heart twinging at Allison’s words, a phantom pain reacting beneath her skin for reasons that she can’t quite remember or understand. There’s something unbearably vulnerable in Allison’s gaze, and Vanya stops herself from asking about it. Instead, she leans closer, resting her head on Allison’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” she murmurs. They stay like that, tucked next to each other as they listen to Klaus talk.

\---

Vanya doesn’t want to remember anything.

But the bite of brain she eats at the dinner table in her mind twists in her mouth, suddenly doughy and warm and so, _so_ sweet.

And suddenly, she remembers _everything._

\---

Vanya looks up as the bells above the café’s front door chime eagerly. She smiles as she sees Allison.

“Didn’t expect that you’d want to meet here,” Allison says casually after she’s draped her coat over the back of her chair and sat down, gaze taking in the familiar interior of the café that Vanya had confessed to be her favorite out of all the places Allison had taken her to.

 _I didn’t expect you to make the first move_ is what Vanya hears from Allison. And she’s not wrong. Allison had always arranged their girl’s nights in the past. But Vanya is confident it’s time for some change.

“We have to start somewhere, don’t we?” Vanya says softly, nudging a plate of pastries in Allison’s direction like a peace offering. Allison plucks up a raspberry Danish, eyeing Vanya for a moment before biting into it.

“I can get behind that,” Allison says with a grin, sly and yet hopeful, and Vanya feels her heart finally begin the slow process of mending itself back together.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [ tumblr](https://shizuoi.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat!


End file.
